As an acupuncturist, I am not immune to neck pain. I get cupping and acupuncture treatment about once a month to keep my neck pain at bay. Statistics show that neck pain has been on the rise recently with increases in computer and smart phone usage. If you have ever experienced it, you know that it can be a nuisance and often interferes with daily activities. Personally, my neck pain leads to the occasional headache and trouble getting comfortable enough to fall asleep at night. I know that much of this neck tension comes from daily stress and bad posture. While acupuncture can’t fix my habits of bad posture, it does have the benefit of stress and pain reduction.
So, what are physician’s and modern research saying about acupuncture for neck pain? The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) conducted research on the subject and concluded that “acupuncture is an effective treatment in chronic pain, with effects of pain relief that persist over time and benefits that cannot be explained away based on the placebo effect.” Peer-reviewed research from PLOS ONE followed acupuncture patients receiving abdominal acupuncture for neck pain from 2014 to 2016. Of the participants in the trial, 85.7% were satisfied with acupuncture treatment results and had decreased neck pain.
For those of you who may be afraid of needles, Tui-na (Asian bodywork) can be a wonderful option to relieve neck pain. This differs from massage therapy in that a Traditional Chinese Medicine diagnosis is used to determine which channels are most affected. Then acupuncture points are chosen, and pressure is applied utilizing various techniques. While some acupressure points may be close to the area of neck pain, often tender points are found distally along the pathway of the channel.
A well-known pain relieving acupuncture point is located in the fleshy muscle between your thumb and pointer finger (as shown with a pink mark in the post drawing). This acupuncture point is known as LI-4 (Hegu) and may feel tender to massage but can be great at relieving pain.
#selfcare #acupunctureworks #acupressure #tuina #painrelief #neckpain #paininyourneck
References
Ho LF, Lin ZX, Leung AWN, Chen L, Zhang H, et al. (2017) Efficacy of abdominal acupuncture for neck pain: A randomized controlled trial. PLOS ONE 12(7): e0181360.
Devitt M. Research finds acupuncture effective for chronic pain. 2018 May 21. Journal of Pain. AAFP
Kwon CY, Lee B. Clinical effects of acupressure on neck pain syndrome (nakchim): a systemic review. Integr Med Res 7(2018) 219-230.